Swirling Darkness
This is the first book in the Spirits series written by Gingerear. I am rating this story as Worse, just in case. (Credit goes to Hawky for the title.) Prologue The forest was as silent and still as a rock. Four massive oaks surrounded a giant rock, five silent sentinels in the night, ready to guard the meeting that was about to take place. A shadowy black she-cat slipped into the moonlight-bathed clearing, her faint, ghostly appearence making her look weak and vulnerable. The she-cat felt vulnerable too, as she padded to the center of the clearing and sat down. She had no idea why she was here, and she really did not want to be in this place. Once, a long time ago, in a place that looked exactly like this one, a great battle had raged. Blood painted the grass red, and even the stars seemed to look down in horror and revulsion. The black she-cat closed her eyes and shuddered. She would never forget that night. And even though this place was merely a replica of the real place, which had been destroyed not too long ago, the dark-furred cat remembered that before the great battle started, the night looked exactly like this one. "Greetings, Shadow," a voice called from the edge of the clearing. Shadow, the black cat, opened her green eyes. Wind, a wiry brown she-cat with yellow eyes, trotted down the slope and towards Shadow. "Hello, Wind," Shadow replied curtly, not trying to sound particularly friendly or angry. "Do you have any idea why we're here?" "Frankly, no," the lean brown she-cat replied as she sat in front of Shadow. "And I take it that you don't either." Shadow nodded. "Well, that doesn't help me at all," a tom called from somewhere above the ground. The two she-cats looked up. A light gray tom leaped down from a massive oak limb and landed on the ground. "Sky," the two she-cats hissed in unison as they rose to their paws and their fur rose from their backs. The light gray tom walked over to them, looking perfectly relaxed. He did not seem to understand why the she-cats were angry, even though they all knew that he did. "Stars," he meowed, "this is the greeting I get after not seeing you two for hundreds of moons?" Shadow was about to make a retort, but a loud caterwaul sounded from the edge of the clearing. Wind and Shadow reluctantly released the tension from their bodies and looked behind them. A faint, ethereal white cat came into the clearing. Her dark green, pool-like eyes simmered with angry impatience. "We cannot quarrel amongst ourselves," the white she-cat snapped as she approached the others. "I do not know what this meeting is for, but if both Rock and Midnight are calling us all here, it must be of great importance." "When will we find out what the purpose of this meeting is?" Shadow asked, impatience hardening her voice. "Soon, friends. Patience," they heard a badger rumble. They turned and saw Midnight lumber over to them on her short legs. "Time we have much, I think." "You think!" Wind snarled."Does that mean you don't know what this meeting is about either?" Before the ancient badger could reply, a silvery tom sauntered into the clearing. His fur glimmered white in the light of the moon and stars. "Hello," he greeted the other cats. "Where are Thunder and Rock?" "I am here," Thunder announced with his deep voice, which sounded like a boom of thunder at that moment, as he walked in. His large white paws seemed to blend into the silvery-white grass as he approached the others. "Though I wish he wasn't," he added as he shot an angry glare at Sky. "To side place old battles, friend," Midnight advised. "In peace this night we meet. Fight we shall not." Thunder let out a low growl as he sat down, but he did not dare to argue with Midnight. "Good," Rock meowed as the horrendously ugly tom walked into the clearing. "Almost everyone has arrived." "Almost everyone!" Shadow yowled in protest. "Isn't everyone here? Who else is coming?" "Me," a tom meowed from behind the giant rock. "Actually, I was here first, but I wanted to wait for everybody before making an appearence." Then he stepped out from the rock's shadows. His long, flowing fur was bronze, and his paws were the purest white, the color of new-fallen snow. His eyes were an icy-sky-blue, speckled with sapphire. Strong muscles rippled with every move of his limber body. Everything about his demeanor made him seem threatening yet somehow friendly at the same time. Once he reached the other cats, he wrapped his long, bushy, fox-like tail around his delicate-looking paws. "My name is Zephyr, for those of you who don't know me," he began. "Why are you here?" River hissed. "What do you want?" "You should know," the bronze tom meowed as he looked at River with his perfectly round, cold blue eyes. Zephyr's gaze drifted over to Rock and Midnight. "Did you not tell them?" "Tell us what?" Wind demanded, her brown fur fluffing up again. Zephyr closed his eyes, sighed, and shrugged. When he opened his eyes again, he said, "I am going to make this a simple as possible. You will either surrender the Clans, the Tribe of Rushing Water, yourselves, and all of the spirits associated with you, or you will be annihalated." "What!" the white cat screeched as she sprang to her paws.The other cats did the same. Midnight just snarled wordlessly. "Never," Rock snapped, not needing to debate this decision with everyone else. The bronze-furred tom, who remained perfectly calm, looked at Rock and said, "You know, the other tribes tried the same tactic. Didn't work out so well." Rock's jaw dropped. Midnight bristled, her tiny black eyes growing bigger with horror. The other six exchanged confused but fearful looks, for they did not know what Zephyr was referring to, but they could tell that he was referring to something awful. Then Rock let out a wordless caterwaul and lunged for Zephyr. The bronze tom looked at him for a moment, and then disappeared, causing Rock to crash onto the grass. Chapter 1 Stonefur peered into the flowing, pale blue waters of the stream. Then he saw the silver flash that signaled the presence of a fish. He reached into the water and swatted the plump fish onto the stream's bank. Then he jumped on the wriggling fish and turned it into fresh-kill. "Nice catch," he heard a kit squeak. Stonefur lifted and turned his head. A white she-kit sat about a tail-length away from him. "Hello, Blossomkit," Stonefur meowed. "What are you doing here all by yourself?" "I was looking for Mosskit and Adderkit," the white kit mewed. "By the way, have you seen Whitethroat?" "No," Stonefur answered. "Why do you ask?" "Well, he wanted to meet me by the Warm-rocks today, but he wasn't there," Blossomkit said. Stonefur sat down by his fish. He understood Blossomkit's concern - Whitethroat was her littermate, after all - but Stonefur knew that nothing bad could have happened to the black and white tom. They lived in StarClan, free of dangers that the living faced, and the Dark Forest would not dare to strike them now. "He might have just been a little late," the blue-gray tom pointed out. "He told me to meet him there in the middle of the morning," Blossomkit informed the former RiverClan warrior. The gray tom's blue gaze switched from Blossomkit to the sky. It was sunhigh. "I see," Stonefur meowed. "Perhaps he forgot?" "You know that he never forgets this sort of thing," Blossomkit snapped. "I wanted to find Mosskit and Adderkit so they could help me look for him." Mosskit, Stonefur's littermate, who he did not know about until he joined StarClan, and Adderkit, a former WindClan kit, were Blossomkit's best friends, and the three of them often did things together. Stonefur swivled his gaze to Blossomkit. Her snowy-white fur brislted, her eyes were stretched, and fear scent streamed off of her. The blue-gray warrior gave the kit a lick on top of her head. Blossomkit's fur flattened somewhat. "I'll help you look," Stonefur told her. "Okay then," Blossomkit conceded. "Come on." The the white she-kit bounded off, running along the grassy bank of the stream. Stonefur hared after the former ShadowClan kit. Soon they reached the Warm-Rocks. The bright sunlight had pounded color out of the smooth gray rocks for moons and moons, turning them into a pale gray. Warm-Rocks always reminded Stonefur of the Sunningrocks back in the Old Forest. Blossomkit sprang onto one of the rocks and turned her head to make sure Stonefur was there. The gray warrior sat down next to the rock. "Did you check the Warm-Rocks for his scent?" Stonefur questioned. "I did," Blossomkit squeaked, "but I didn't smell anything." "Then why are we here?" "I wanted you to check and make sure," the white kit mewed. Stonefur dipped his head to acknowledge her answer, but said, "I'll take your word for it." "I don't know where else to look!" Blossomkit squealed in agitation. Suddenly, the two cats heard rustling in the nearby bushes. They turned their head in unison. A tiny tortieshell she-kit clambered out of the bush, followed by a small gray tomkit. Blossomkit jumped off the rock, turned in midair, and started walking over towards the younger kits. "Marigoldkit, Mintkit," she greeted them. "What are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Silverflame?" Stonefur had no idea who Silverflame was, and he had not met these kits before, but he assumed Silverflame was the queen who took care of Mintkit and Marigoldkit. "We smelled Whitethroat, and blood," the tiny she-kit squeaked, her voice and body trembling as she spoke. "Silverflame told us to wait by a bush, but we figured we should go tell you, because we knew you were meeting him today." The gray tom strode over to the three kits. Mintkit and Marigoldkit looked up at the muscular tom, in awe of his powerful build and handsome, silver-sheened blue-gray fur. "This is Stonefur, Mosskit's older brother," Blossomkit said. "He's not going to hurt you." "Nobody should be hurting them," Stonefur pointed out. "No one is," Mintkit piped up. Then he started crawling back into the thick, dark green bush and mewed, "We need to go this way." The other two kits followed him. Stonefur went around the bush. Then they continued on through the woods, pushing through the undergrowth and dogding the trees of StarClan's lush, life-filled forest until they came to a place nearby the Falls. Stonefur heard the melodic sound of the waterfalls, and smelt the clear, sweet scent of fresh water. Then he picked up the metallic tang of blood. A gray and orange she-cat charged burst through the bushes, into Stonefur's vision. "Mintkit! Marigoldkit!" she wailed, obviously panicking. "They're over here," Stonefur called, lifting his head up so the she-cat could see him over a particularly tall and thick bush. The gray and orange she-cat looked at the gray tom. Then she charged over to him, leaped over the bush, and landed right between Stonefur and the kits. "There you are!" the she-cat yowled. She pulled the tortieshell kit and the gray kit over to her and started licking them fervently. "Where did you go?" "To tell me that you scented Whitethroat," Blossomkit explained as she looked up at the queen. "Is he okay, Silverflame?" Silverflame froze in midlick. Then she looked at Blossomkit and freezed again. Then her body loosened, and her expression turned into a look of sorrow and pity. "Blossomkit," she said, "Whitethroat's been murdered."